About Kirsten Batten Leach
Photo by Kristina Naso
Kirsten Batten Leach is an interdisciplinary artist who makes sculptures and performances about care-taking and bodily autonomy. She creates a record of these durational works in the form of painting and drawing. Her background as a former ballet dancer and domestic worker informs the physical rigor of her object-making practice. Both experiences are two polarized forms of labor which make visible some aspects of extreme social stratification that are present in the United States.
She is currently a 2025-26 A.I.R. Gallery Fellow and was shortlisted for the Smack Mellon Residency Program. She has exhibited works at NYU Gallatin Galleries, The Factory (Long Island City) and Black Brick Project. Raised in Boston, MA she completed her MFA in Integrated Practices at Pratt Institute and earned a BFA in English Literature from Mount Holyoke College.
Email: kirsten.battenleach@gmail.com
Instagram: @______kirsten